Fluorescent tube fixtures typically include an enclosure that supports lamp holders, a ballast and wires. The lamp holders support one or more fluorescent lamps. The ballast and wires feed power to the lamps. A typical enclosure is an elongated sheet metal enclosure designed to accommodate one or more fluorescent lamps.
A light fixture manufacturer may assemble a fixture. The manufacturer may test the fixture, when it is complete or nearly complete, to make sure the wiring is correctly connected and the ballast operates correctly. One typical test is a lamp illumination test. The lamp illumination test involves installing a lamp and turning on the fixture power to make sure that the lamp illuminates. This can be a time consuming process, especially because the test requires installation and removal of one or more lamps for each fixture. Also, the test is not reliable, because even a miswired fixture can cause a lamp to illuminate.
Other tests involve testing fixture circuit continuity or impedance. Typical continuity or impedance tests involve inserting probes into test holes in a lamp holder. The probes include electrodes that are brought into contact with power supply terminals inside the lamp holders after entering the holes. The shapes, sizes, orientations and placement of the holes, however vary among lamp models, so it is necessary for a fixture manufacturer to obtain or fabricate probes for each lamp model.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide apparatus and methods for efficiently testing fluorescent tube fixtures.
It also would be desirable, therefore, to provide apparatus and methods for reliably testing fluorescent tube fixtures.
It also would be desirable, therefore, to provide apparatus and methods for testing different models of fluorescent tube fixtures.